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RECONSTRUCTION of the GOVERNMENT 



United ^tate of ^mtfiw. 



A DEMOCRATIC EMPIRE ADVOCATED, 



M IMPERIAL CONSTITUTION PROPOSED. 



WM. J3. WEDGWOOD, LL.D., 

Trofessor of Commercial, International, Constitutional, and Statutory Law, in the University 
of the City of New-York. 



pcto-|Tarfi: 

JOHN H. TINGLEY, 152* FULTON STREET. 
1861. 









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Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1861, by 

WM. B. WEDGWOOD, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern 
District of New-York. 



RECONSTRUCTION OF THE GOVERNMENT. 



University of the City of New-York, 
August 23, 1861. 

Fellow- Citizens of the late United, now Belligerent 
States of America : 

To you who still hold sacred the declaration of the re- 
nowned statesman Henry Clay, and even now " Know no 
North, no South, no East, no West," but one great and glorious 
empire, bound together by ten thousand bonds of consanguin- 
ity and affinity — of time-honored duties performed and obliga- 
tions gratefully acknowledged — of love and affection long 
cherished — of mutual pecuniary interests — to you would I 
present the strongest assurances of continued good-will and 
undiminished friendship. I would invite you to sit down with 
me and let us institute the inquiry, and ascertain if a recon- 
struction of our government can not be accomplished which 
will be satisfactory to all. 

We are in the midst of extraordinary events. Civil war 
with all its horrors is upon us. Five hundred thousand Ame- 
rican citizens are rushing to the battle-field, wmere father will 
be arrayed against the son, and brother against brother, in 
cruel and deadly strife. It will cost the nation in expenses 
for the war and in the destruction of private and public pro- 
perty more than five hundred millions of dollars for the first 
year with no certainty of seeing the end of the war at the 
expiration of the year. Is it not well for the whole nation, 
North and South, to pause and reflect before they plunge 
deeper into the yawning chasm before them ? 



4 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE GOVERNMENT. 

Let ns for a moment return to the old paths in which our 
fathers trod, and see if we can find any precedent to guide us 
in the dark hour that is upon us. Let us review the toil and 
suffering and sacrifice of our noble ancestors in constructing 
this republic, before we ruthlessly destroy it. 

Before the Involution there was no bond of union between 
the Colonies. When the battles of Lexington and Bunker 
Hill were fought in April and June, 1775, no one dreamed of 
establishing an independent nation. But, on Friday, June 7, 
1776, the question of separation from the mother country was 
brought before the Continental Congress. The next day it 
was debated in committee of the whole, in secret session, and 
adopted. On Monday following, a committee was appointed 
to prepare Articles of Confederation. On the 4th of July, the 
Declaration of Independence was made public, and on the 
12th of Jnly the committee appointed to prepare Articles of 
Confederation made their report. But eighty copies of the 
report were printed ; members binding themselves, their secre- 
tary, and their printer, by a solemn pledge of secresy. 

The 8th of June, 1776, may be regarded as the birthday of 
this republic. On that day the umbilical cord which bound 
us to the mother country was forever severed. The infant 
republic was soon after to receive its baptism of fire and blood. 
Xew-York was to be the place forever consecrated by that 
august ceremony. The American army, under command 
of General Washington, was at that time in and around this 
city. In a few weeks thirty-five thousand of the best troops 
in Europe were at our doors. On the 27th August a desperate 
battle was fought on Long Island, a few miles from this city, 
in which more than a thousand brave American soldiers were 
killed, and still more wounded. On the following night the 
American army returned to this cit} r , and a few days later 
Fort Washington, on Washington Heights, in this city, fell 
into the hands of the enemy, after a desperate resistance, and 
after the discharge of the last round of ammunition. Two 
thousand of the American army were here taken prisoners, 
and many slain. This was the baptism of the infant republic. 
And who, I ask, were these illustrious men who were killed 
and wounded and taken prisoners, to suffer cruelties worse than 



RECONSTRUCTION OF THE GOVERNMENT. 5 

death ? The chivalric sons of the South stood side by side with 
the gallant sons of the North. They fought for the same cause. 
They shed their blood in defense of the same soil. Their last 
dying prayers were uttered for their country, and their whole 
country one and inseparable. Thus that holy band of revo- 
lutionary martyrs, from the sunny South and the frigid North 
fought and bled side by side in every battle of the Revolution 
from Lexington to Yorktown. 

The Articles of Confederation were not adopted until nearly 
a year and a half after they were reported by the committee. 
The committee reported twenty articles ; only thirteen were 
finally adopted. This was but little more than a union of 
sovereign States in a firm league of friendship with each other 
for their common defense, binding themselves to assist each 
other to resist all force offered against either of the States. 
The powers of Congress were such only as were necessary in 
carrying on the war, and then it amounted to little more than 
power to recommend, advise, and entreat. Under the Articles 
of Confederation the Revolutionary "War was prosecuted and 
terminated, and our independence achieved. 

Eight years of desolating war had made almost every house 
in the land a house of mourning. Fathers, husbands, brothers, 
sons, were missed from the family circle. The illustrious Com- 
mander-in-chief disbanded the remnant of his victorious army, 
imploring upon them ample justice from their grateful coun- 
try, and the choicest blessings of heaven from the God of 
battles. As the veteran soldier laid aside his arms and re- 
turned to the home of other days, neglected and deserted, he 
keenly felt the fearful price which had been paid for liberty. 
To the one hundred and thirty millions expended, and the 
debt of fifty millions incurred, was to be added individual 
ruin, personal suffering, and loss of life. 

On the 4th of December, 1783, the officers of the army as- 
sembled at Francis' Tavern in Broad street, in this city, for a 
final parting with their beloved Commander-in-chief. On en- 
tering the room where they were assembled, Washington said : 
" With a heart full of love and gratitude I now take leave of 
you. I most devoutly wish that your latter days may be as 
prosperous and happy as your former ones have been glorious 



6 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE GOVERNMENT. 

and honorable." Each officer approached the chief, and 
Washington, incapable of utterance, bade each a silent fare- 
well. Every eye was filled with tears and not one word inter- 
rupted the eloquent silence. They followed their chief to 
Whitehall in mute and solemn procession, where he entered a 
barge, and turning to his officers who stood uncovered upon 
the Bhore, and waving his hat bade them a silent adieu. 

Immediately after the close of the Eevolution the Confede- 
rated Congress recommended taxation and duties, but it had 
no power to levy and collect taxes or enforce the payment of 
duties. The Articles of Confederation were insufficient as a 
system of government. There was no longer the pressure of 
common danger which had given strength to the bonds of the 
Federal Union. The minds of the wisest and best men of the 
nation were filled with gloomy forebodings. They felt that 
there was an impending crisis in the affairs of the nation. 

In ITSi Washington wrote : " The disinclination of the indi- 
vidual States to yield competent power to Congress for the 
Federal Government — their unreasonable jealousies of that 
body and of one another — and the disposition which seems to 
pervade each, of being all-wise and all-powerful within itself, 
will, if there be not a change in the system, be our downfall 
as a nation. 1 think we have opposed Great Britain, and 
have arrived at the present state of peace and independence 
to but very little purpose, IF WE CAN" NOT CONQUER 
OUR OWN PREJUDICES." There was a general conviction 
in the public mind that some step must be taken to avert the 
impending calamity which hung over the country. 

At length a gleam of light broke through the darkness. 
Virginia proposed a Convention of the Confederated States to 
consider and adopt some uniform system of trade and com- 
merce for all the States. Five States met in Convention. 
They drew up a report recommending another Convention 
" to take into consideration the situation of the United States, 
and to devise such provisions as should seem to them neces- 
sary to render the Constitution of the Federal Government 
adequate to the exigencies of the Union." 

1 delegates were soon after appointed from all the States except 
Rhode-Island. The delegates, fifty-five in number, met and 



RECONSTRUCTION OF THE GOVERNMENT. 7 

framed " The Constitution of the United States. 1 ' They closed 
their sitting and adjourned. The members returned to their 
several States to advocate the approval and adoption of the 
Constitution they had framed. The following year, which 
is known as the year of suspense, at length drew to a close. 
The ratification of nine States was to be sufficient for the 
establishment of the Constitution between the States so rati- 
fying the same. Before the 1st of July, 1788, Delaware, 
Pennsylvania, New-Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachu- 
sets, Maryland, South-Carolina, New-Hampshire, and Vir- 
ginia, in the order here named, had approved and adopted the 
proposed Constitution. The event was every where hailed by 
the people with enthusiastic delight. Long processions, with 
banners and devices, and martial music, and ringing of bells, 
and firing of cannons, paraded the streets. Cities and villages 
were illuminated, and bonfires blazed on every hilltop in the 
country. Ten of the columns which were to support the 
federal edifice had been erected. The others were nearly 
completed. During the month of July the Constitution was 
accepted and adopted by the State of New- York. 

As soon as nine States had accepted and adopted the Con- 
stitution, the Confederated Congress, then in session in the city 
of New-York, passed an act for the election of President, Vice- 
President, and members of Congress, under the new Constitu- 
tion. The election was held. The new Congress met in the 
city of New-York on the 4th of March, 17S9. On the 6th of 
April, a quorum being present, the ballots for President were 
examined and counted. George Washington was -found to be 
unanimously elected. He was informed of his election. He 
proceeded at once to the city of New-York. All along the 
route he was greeted with irrepressible enthusiasm. All ages 
and sexes and conditions rushed forth to meet him. Tri- 
umphal arches were erected, and his pathway strewn with 
flowers. He was every where greeted with the roar of can- 
non, the sound of martial music, with songs and shouts of wel- 
come. 

At length the day arrived — the 30th of April, 1789 — when 
AVashington was to be inaugurated the first Chief Magistrate 
of this united and consolidated Republic. At nine o'clock the 



S RECONSTRUCTION OF THE GOVERNMENT. 

people assembled in their churches to implore the divine 
1 Messing upon the President and the Nation. At twelve o'clock 
Washington appeared on the colonnade of the City Hall, at the 
corner of Nassau and Wall streets, attended by his Cabinet 
and both Houses of Congress. In the presence of the hundred 
thousand freemen who thronged "Wall, Nassau, and Broad 
streets, Chancellor Livingston read to the President the follow- 
ing oath : 

" You do solemnly swear that you will faithfully execute 
the office of President of the United States, and will, to the 
best of your ability, PRESERVE, PROTECT, and DEFEND 
the CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES." 

Washington pronounced the words of the oath clearly and 
distinctly after the Chancellor, and closing his eyes, with his 
whole soul absorbed in the supplication, he added, " So help 
me God ! " and kissed the Bible lying before him. Chancellor 
Livingston then said to the multitude : " It is done. Long live 
George Washington, President of the United States/" Then 
was uttered such a shout of united and consolidated freemen 
as was never before heard on earth. The nation from that 
day entered upon the path of prosperity, greatness, and happi- 
ness, without a parallel in the history of the race. 

The idea of a special Providence controlling, and aiding, 
and cherishing this nation, had long pervaded the mind of 
Washington and other leading minds in this country. At the 
close of the Revolution, when AVashington had taken leave of 
the army, and appeared before the Confederated Congress to 
return his commission, he closed his memorable address to 
that body by saying : " I consider it an indispensable duty to 
close this, my last act of official life, by commending the in- 
terests of our dearest country to the protection of Almighty 
God, and those who have the superintendence of those interests 
to his holy keeping. Having now finished the work assigned 
me, I retire from the theatre of action, and bidding an affec- 
t innate farewell to this august body, under whose orders I have 
so long acted, I here offer my commission and take my leave 
of all the employments of public life." The reply on the part 
of I longrcss was as follows : " We join with you in commend- 
ing the interests of our country to Almighty God, beseeching 



RECONSTRUCTION OF THE GOVERNMENT. 9 

him to dispose the hearts and minds of its citizens to improve 
the opportunity afforded them of becoming a happy and res- 
pectable nation. And for you we address to him our warmest 
prayers that a life so beloved may be fostered with all his 
care, that your days may be as happy as they have been illus- 
trious, and that he will finally give you that reward which 
this world can not bestow." 

After Washington had taken the Presidential oath of office, 
he returned to the Senate Chamber in the City Hall, and in 
the presence of his Cabinet and both Houses of Congress, he 
delivered his inaugural address. In the course of this address 
he said : " It would be peculiarly improper to omit in this my 
first official act, my fervent supplication to the Almighty Be- 
ing who presides in thecouncils of nations, who rules over the 
Union, and whose providential aid can supply every human 
defect, that his benediction may consecrate to the liberties and 
happiness of the people of the United States, a Government 

INSTITUTED BY THEMSELVES FOR THEIR ESSENTIAL PURPOSES. 

" In tendering this homage to the great Author of every pub- 
lic and private good, I assure myself that it expresses your 
sentiments not less than my own, nor those of our fellow-citizens 
at large less than either. No people can be bound to acknow- 
ledge and adore the invisible Hand which conducts the affairs 
of men, more than the people of the United States. Every 
step by which they have advanced to the character of an in- 
dependent nation seems to have been distinguished by some 
token of providential agency ; and in the revolution just ac- 
complished in the system of this united government, the tran- 
quil deliberations and voluntary consent of so many distinct 
communities, from which the event has resulted, can not be 
compared with the means by which most governments have 
been established without some return of pious gratitude, with 
an humble anticipation of the future blessings which the past 
seems to presage." 

Admitting that God is the Supreme Legislator, and Ruler, 
and Judge — that his law is above all human compacts and con- 
stitutions and laws — that he presides in the councils of nations 
and controls the affairs of men, that he judges the world in 
righteousness and the people with his truth — let us compare 



10 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE GOVERNMENT. 

his special providence in the affairs of our nation with the 
most signally favored nation of other days. 

The descendants of the Patriarchs were in bondage in 
Egypt for four hundred and thirty years. Then God brought 
them out of Egypt, leading them by a pillar of cloud by day, 
and a pillar of fire by night. He opened the gates of the sea 
for their passage. For them rivers of water gushed from the 
flinty rock, and manna descended from heaven. He gave 
them his covenant amid the thunders of Sinai. For forty 
years he led them through the wilderness, until a new genera- 
tion had been raised up and prepared for his service. He 
then drove out the heathen from Palestine, and there planted 
his chosen people, in thirteen States. The Ark of the Coven- 
ant was borne in triumph into the midst of that land. Pros- 
perity and happiness followed them, and their name and their 
fame went out to the ends of the earth. 

In the midst of their prosperity there was a dissolution of 
their Union. Eleven of the stars of the new constellation went 
out in darkness. The others were dragged from their orbit, 
and to this day are but wandering stars. 

In after days God brought to the knowledge of the civilized 
world a new continent. He selected another people and 
planted them in the new world, in thirteen States. He drove 
out the heathen before them, and gave them the land for a 
perpetual inheritance. He led them through the Red Sea of 
the Ee volution, and caused them at last to say : " The Lord 
has triumphed gloriously. The horse and the rider hath he 
thrown into the sea. Had not the Lord been on our side when 
the enemy came against us, we had fallen, we had perished." 

lie gave this people another covenant, by the hand of another 
Moses. Hundreds of thousands have regarded it as the gift of 
Divine Inspiration. The new covenant is still enshrined in 
the great heart of the nation. 

For three-score years he has constantly extended our bor- 
ders and strengthened the bonds which so long and so happily 
united us together. He gave us the lands of other nations, 
an' I as soon as they were ours, he revealed to us treasures of 
untold wealth, concealed from the beginning of the world. 
The flag of the thirteen stripes and ever-multiplying stars, was 



RECONSTRUCTION OF THE GOVERNMENT. 11 

borne along the pathway of the nation, and the wilderness 
and the solitary place has blossomed as the rose. Industry, 
morality, religion, wealth, happiness, all the institutions of 
civilized life, have sprung up in our pathway at every advanc- 
ing footstep. God has not dealt thus with any other nation. 
Surely the Lord of hosts has been with us. The God of 
Jacob is still our refuge. This God is our God forever and 
ever, lie will still be our guide through this impending 
crisis, and if his will is consulted and followed, the world 
will say : " Blessed is that nation whose God is the Lord." 

When it was announced that a civil war had commenced be- 
tween the different States of this Union, the news was every 
where received with bewildering astonishment. Greater sur- 
prise could not have been produced by the announcement of the 
fulfillment of the apocalyptic vision of "war in heaven" But upon 
mature deliberation and reflection, we see that there have been 
causes at M'ork, whose inevitable tendency has been to produce 
the very state of affairs which we now witness. The United 
States, after the adoption of the present Constitution, entered 
upon an era of prosperity entirely unknown in the history of 
man. In the duration of a single life, our population has in- 
creased from three millions to thirty millions, and our wealth 
has increased in far greater ratio. But amidst all our pros- 
perity, there were those among us who were continually sow- 
ing the seeds of discord all over the land, paid for their de- 
testable services with foreign gold. The Constitution was 
publicly denounced as a " league with death, and a covenant 
with hell.'' The ministers of the Gospel who sustained it were 
declared to be " the ministers of the devil," and their churches 
"the synagogues of Satan," "Silver-tongued" orators de- 
clared that they " would spit upon it, and trample it under 
their feet." Slavery was declared from the pulpit to be worse 
than murder, and the slaveholder worse than the murderer. 
Even the Supreme Court of the nation, which Washington 
declared to be the key-stone of the Union, has been assailed 
and denounced by the pulpit and the press. These vile slan- 
ders were clearly offenses against the public law of the land, 
and yet no prosecution followed, for enforcing the penalty of 
the violated law. When the people allow such language to 
be used, without attempting to suppress it and punish the of- 



12 RECONSTRUCTION OF THE GOVERNMENT. 

fense, it is to be regarded as the general sentiment of the peo- 
ple, and the whole people become responsible for the acts of 
its individual members. These same men, who have uttered 
such language from the pulpit, have been sentenced to the 
penitentiary for less libelous language upon other subjects. 

It was quietly whispered in the parlor, that the slave would 
be justified in murdering his master. Arms w T ere in one case 
purchased and secretly transferred into slave territory, for the 
purpose of being placed in the hands of the slaves for that 
avowed purpose. An arsenal was seized in attempting to pro- 
duce an insurrection. Innocent men within the range of the 
arsenal were shot down in the streets, without a moment's 
warning. The house of a worthy citizen, who bears the name, 
and in whose veins flows the kindred blood of the " Father of 
our country," was secretly entered in the night-time, and its 
occupants dragged from their homes by their felon-captors, 
and confined for days in such position as to expose their lives 
to the weapons of their friends, if aimed against their captors. 
And when a part of these felons found a " felon's doom," they 
were placed in the calendar of martyrs. On the floor of Con- 
gress, the most offensive language has been used, and the slave- 
holder denounced as the incarnation of all villainies. Retali- 
ation and revenge, on the part of the South, has followed all 
these offenses. Attempts to tamper with slaves, or to produce 
insurrection, have been punished with tar, feathers, and hemp. 
Offensive language uttered in the Senate has been revenged 
by sprinkling the floor of the Senate Chamber with the blood 
of the offender. 

By such language and such acts, on the part of North and 
South, one after another of the sacred ties which bound our 
fathers together as a band of brothers have been severed, 
Sectional churches, sectional benevolent societies, and sec- 
tional political parties, have been formed, and at last, sec- 
tional governments are marshaling their hundreds of thou- 
sands of armed men to drench the land with fratricidal blood. 

As we find ourselves in this unfortunate position, we are 
bound to look about us, and inquire, if there is any honorable 
way by which the effusion of blood may be checked, and par- 
tial, if not complete, peace, prosperity, and happiness, restored 
to our bleeding country. 



RECONSTRUCTION OF THE GOVERNMENT. 13 

The plan I would propose is as follows : 

1. Let a Convention, composed of a number of Delegates 
equal to the Senators and Representatives in Congress, selected 
direct from the body of the people, meet in the city of New- 
York, on Tuesday, the 15th day of October next, to devise 
some plan for the reconstruction of the Government, 

2. Let the question of the division of the United States into 
two, three, or four Republics, be considered and determined 
by the Convention. 

3. If it shall be determined to divide the United States 
into two or more Republics, let the question of the union of 
these and other Republics into a Government, to be known as 
"The Democratic Empire," be considered and determined by 
the Convention. 

•4. If a Union of these Republics shall be agreed upon, let 
the question of the distribution of the powers of government 
between the three grades of government, be considered and 
determined by the Convention. 

5. Let the further question of the location of the Capital of 
the " Democratic Empire," with the formation of a Constitu- 
tion, be considered and determined by the Convention. 

6. Let the conditions of the admission of the " British Pro- 
vinces in North-America," when they shall become a Repub- 
lic, together with Mexico and other Republics, into the " De- 
mocratic Empire," be considered and determined by the Con- 
vention-; 

7. Let the Convention take into consideration and deter- 
mine all questions which may arise in the formation of such a 
Government as will secure to all, domestic tranquillity, peace, 
prosperity and happiness. 

8. Let an Imperial Party be at once organized in every 
Town, "Ward, and District, in the land, to educate and sustain 
the Empire ; and let the people in each Congressional District 
select one of their most able and judicious citizens to represent 
them in Convention, to be held in the City of New- York, with 
full power to proclaim the Empire, prepare a Constitution, and 
establish a Provisional Imperial Government. 

The Constitution I would propose as a basis, subject to the 
alterations and amendments of the Convention, is as follows : 



CONSTITUTION OF THE DEMOCRATIC EMPIRE. 



We, the People of the Democratic Empire, fervently suppli- 
cating the Almighty Being who presides in the councils of 
nations, and controls the affairs of men, that his benediction 
may consecrate our labors to the peace, prosperity, and happi- 
ness of our beloved country, do hereby unite and bind our- 
selves together in a firm and perpetual League of Unity, 
Amity, Peace, and Commerce ; and in order to secure to our- 
selves and our posterity the blessings of Civil and Religious 
Liberty, Political Equality, and Perpetual Fraternity, we here- 
by ordain and establish this Constitution as the supreme and 
fundamental law of the Empire. 

ARTICLE I. 

TITLE. 

§ 1. This Government shall be known and designated by 
the title of " The Democratic Empire." 

ARTICLE II. 

FLAG. 

§ 2. The Flag of the Democratic Empire shall be composed 
of seven colors and thirteen stripes, resembling a double rain- 
bow united, (one to remind us that the earth shall no more be 
deluged with water ; the other, that it shall no more be deluged 
in blood.) The upper corner, nearest the staff, extending 
down to the seventh stripe and extending in length five 
eighths of the flag, shall be blue, upon which shall be placed 
the two hemispheres united by clasped hands in token of our 
invitation to all people and nations to come with us and repose 
beneath its sheltering folds. Upon the blue ground shall be 
inscribed these four symbolical letters : "VV. C. P. P. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE DEMOCRATIC EMPIRE. 15 

ARTICLE III. 

SEAL. 

§ 3. The Seal of the Democratic Empire shall be the figure 
of a woman standing on the summit of a mountain, with the 
American Eagle, with half-expanded wings, perched at her 
feet. She is clothed in a flowing robe of pure gold, bound 
around the waist with a golden girdle, upon which is inscribed : 
" Peace over all the earth." " Good-will to all men." On 
her head is a crown of thirteen stars. Below her, at her right 
hand, are the summits of many mountains, and the moon is 
descending among these mountain summits beneath her feet. 
Above these mountain summits is a cloud. Beneath the cloud 
the scales of Justice are suspended from a visible hand sup- 
ported by an arm concealed among the clouds. On one scale 
is written, "The voice of God," on the other, "The voice of 
the People." The scales are equally balanced. Upon the 
beam is inscribed: "Theocratic Democracy." The figure, 
with her left hand, is pointing towards the cloud. At her 
right hand are other mountain summits, from among which 
the morning sun is ascending, throwing its rays upon her 
golden robes and sparkling crown. Beneath her feet are the 
dismounted cannon — the broken spear — the sheathed sword. 
In her right hand are many laurel wreaths. Upon her left 
arm is inscribed, "Length of Days," and on her right, "Eiches 
and Honor." 

ARTICLE IV. 
UNITY OF THE EMPIRE. 

§ 4. The Empire is one and indivisible, bound together by 
ten thousand bonds of consanguinity and affinity. 

Reciprocal rights and reciprocal duties bind each citizen to 
the whole Empire, and the whole Empire to each citizen. 

ARTICLE V. 
POLITICAL EQUALITY. 

§ 5. All men, when they form a social compact, are equally 
under the protection of the law. Their descendants are in 
many respects created equal and in others totally unequal. 

§ 6. They are equally helpless in infancy, equally depend- 



1G CONSTITUTION OF THE DEMOCRATIC EMPIRE. 

eiit on the services of others for food and clothing and instruc- 
tion in childhood, and on account of such helplessness and 
dependence, subject to the control of others until they arrive 
to the maturity of manhood. 

§ 7. They are totally unequal in their physical and mental 
constitutions, and in the estates which they inherit from then- 
ancestors. Some inherit from their ancestors a healthy and 
vigorous constitution, a strong mind, an ample fortune, and 
trophies of noble deeds descending through a long line of illus- 
trious ancestry. Others inherit from their ancestors a diseased 
and feeble constitution, a weak and depraved mind, poverty 
and dishonor, descending through generations of ancestors, so 
that two persons can hardly be found who are exactly and in 
all respects alike. 

ARTICLE VI. 

EDUCATION. 

§ 8. A good education in childhood and an opportunity for 
a constant advancement in the path of progress to successively 
higher degrees of knowledge, morality and, virtue, is the in- 
alienable right of every citizen of the empire. When he 
arrives to the maturity of manhood, he is equally bound to 
contribute to the education and support of the helpless and 
dependent. 

ARTICLE VII. 
LABOR. 

§ 9. Labor is the source of individual and national wealth. 
It is the fountain of health, morality, and happiness, and all 
should be allowed and required to perform some kind of labor. 

§ 10. Idleness is the parent of vice and the most prolific 
source of misery, and no citizen of the Empire should be al- 
lowed to lead an idle and dissolute life. 

ARTICLE VIII. 
RELIGIOUS WORSHIP. 

§ 11. The Human Family are the children of one Common 
Parent, and each has a right to repose in the Father of all, 
filial confidence — to regard him with filial affection, and to 
worship him in such manner as shall be in accordance with 
the word of God and the dictates of reason and conscience. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE DEMOCRATIC EMPIRE. 17 

§ 12. Every member of the Human Family, actuated by the 
spirit of concession and compromise, should strive to establish 
the " unity of the faith" in all the fundamental and essential 
principles of religious worship, that there may be but " one 
fold and one shepherd," but civil power should not interfere 
with or control such worship. 

§ 13. The right of conscience should not be extended so far 
as to protect or authorize any criminal or immoral act, nor 
should the worship of idols and the sacrifice of human beings 
as a religious ceremony be anywhere allowed. 

ARTICLE IX. 
THE OBJECT AND SOURCES OF GOVERNMENT. 

§ 14. Governments are instituted among men for the pur- 
pose of securing to every citizen the greatest amount of true 
and lasting happiness. That form of government is best, 
which* will most perfectly secure this object. 

§ 15. The most perfect form of government, for the security 
of the true and lasting happiness of the citizen, is a well-de- 
vised and accurately balanced Theocratic Democracy. 

§ 16. The Supreme Kuler of the Universe is the Supreme 
Legislator, and Ruler, and Judge, among the nations. 

^ 17. He is the fountain of perfection — the fountain of 
honor — the giver of preferment. All political power origin- 
ates with and is derived from him. 

§ 18. The fundamental principles upon which governments 
are formed are coeval with the creation of man, and are ante- 
rior and superior to any positive enactment. They are fixed 
and invariable. They are the supreme constitutional laws of 
man's existence, to which all legislative enactments must 
strictly conform. They are defined, but not conferred, by our 
free Constitutions. 

§ 19. To develop and arrange these principles ; to reduce 
them to a written code, under the sanction of legislative en- 
actment ; and to carry the same into effect, is the principal 
object for which governments were instituted, that equal rights 
and equal privileges may be secured to all. 

§ 20. "Whenever the course of any government tends to sub- 
vert these principles, the people have the right, and it is their 



18 CONSTITUTION' OF THE DEMOCRATIC EMPIRE. 

imperative duty, to alter, reform, or to change the same en- 
tirely, and to substitute therefor such form of government as 
shall secure to all the highest degree of true and lasting hap- 
piness. 

ARTICLE X. 
OFFICERS OF GOVERNMENT. 

§21. Although the Supreme Being presides in the councils 
of nations, and controls the affairs of men, and his will should 
be consulted and followed in all the affairs of government, yet 
the Divine will must be carried into effect in human govern- 
ments through the medium of officers duly selected from the 
body of the people. 

§ 22. The officers of the government are the trustees and 
servants of the people, to whose keeping, for the time being, 
the powers of government are confided. 

§ 23. The people have the right to demand that the officers 
of the government be men of high moral and religious charac- 
ter — that those who minister at the sacred altars of justice 
shall be men of " clean hands and a pure heart" — that when 
they take the oath of office, and "swear in the presence of the 
ever-living God, that they will faithfully perform the duties of 
the office upon which they are about to enter," they may not 
regard such act as a mere idle ceremony, but as a solemn com- 
pact between themselves on the one part, and God and the 
people on the other, to whom they are accountable for the ex- 
ercise of the power confided to their keeping. " He that 
ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God." 
The judges "judge not for man, but for the Lord, who is with 
them in the judgment." " When the righteous are in authority, 
the people rejoice ; but when the wicked bear rule, the people 
mourn." " Able men, such as fear God — men of truth, hating 
covetousness," should alone and exclusively be selected as of- 
ficers of government. The incompetent, the immoral, and 
the dishonest, should be excluded from the exercise of so sa- 
cred a trust. 

ARTICLE XI. 
SELECTION OF OFFICERS. 

jj 24:. Every government, through its legislative authority, 
should describe definitely and minutely, the requisite qualifi- 



CONSTITUTION OF THE DEMOCRATIC EMPIRE. 19 

cations for every office in the government, whether it be an 
office of honor, trust, and profit, or an office of sacrifice, toil, 
and danger. 

§ 25. Every citizen who possesses the requisite qualifications 
for each office, after thorough examination, should be regis- 
tered as a candidate for the office for which, on such examina- 
tion, he has been found to be fully qualified. 

§ 26. The selection from the candidates registered to fill 
every office in the government should be made in the same 
manner as members of the Grand Inquest are now selected. 
This was the mode of filling all offices in the most ancient Re- 
publics. Precedents of later date are also to be found. By 
this mode of selection, all political intrigue, all strife for office, 
and all the consequent evils that follow, will be suppressed. 
Each citizen who is qualified will be equally liable to be called 
upon to fill the office for which he is qualified, whether it be 
an office of honor, trust, and profit, or an office of sacrifice, toil, 
and danger. 

ARTICLE XII. 
DEGREES OF GOVERNMENT. 

§ 27. There shall be three degrees of government : 

1. State government. 

2. A Union of State governments into a National govern- 
ment. 

3. A Union of National governments into a Democratic Em- 
pire. 

The boundaries of the American States shall remain as here- 
tofore, subject to such alterations and changes as may be de- 
termined by the National government, at the request, or with 
the consent of the people of the State. 

§ 28. The former territory of the United States shall be di- 
vided into two national governments. The division line shall 
be the present boundary between the "Labor States" and the 
" Capital States," until it reaches the Missouri Compromise 
line, which line shall be extended west until it reaches the 
Atlantic Ocean. 

§ 29. These two national governments shall be united into 
a Democratic Empire. The city of New- York shall be the 



20 CONSTITUTION OF THE DEMOCRATIC EMPIRE. 

capital of the Democratic Empire. Each National and State 
government shall determine for itself the locality of its capital. 
§ 30. In each degree of government there shall be three 
branches : 

1. Legislative. 

2. Judiciary. 

3. Executive. 

§ 31. It shall be the business of the legislative branch of 
government to enact such laws as shall tend to the constant 
advancement of all its citizens to constantly higher grades of 
education, morality, piety, and happiness, and such as shall 
tend to the constant decrease of ignorance, immorality, vice, 
and misery. The Legislature should prohibit and declare un- 
lawful all kinds of traffic and every practice which tends to crime 
and produces more evil than good to its citizens. The law 
never speaks but to command ; nor commands where it has no 
power to compel. Consequently there are many voluntary 
duties and undefined offenses which are beyond the power of 
legislation. Among these are, piety to God ; respect of pa- 
rents ; benevolence to the poor ; gratitude to benefactors ; 
luxury ; prodigality ; disrespect to parents ; envy, hatred, and 
malice. 

§ 32. It is the certainty of the law that gives stability to a 
government, and the principles of the common law, which are 
the accumulated wisdom of ages, should not be overturned 
and subverted by the Legislature unless enforced by absolute 
necessity. Hasty and reckless legislation is the bane of any 
government. 

§ 33. The power to make laws may be regarded as the su- 
preme power in the government. It should be placed in the 
hands of the most able and cautious jurists in the land. 

ARTICLE XIII. 
THE LEGISLATIVE POWER. 

§ 3L The legislative power in each grade of government 
shall be vested in a Senate and House of Representatives. 
The members of the State House of Representatives shall be 
selected annually. Those of the National House of Repre- 
sentatives shall hold their office for two years, and those of the 
Imperial House of Representatives shall hold their office for 



CONSTITUTION OF THE DEMOCRATIC EMPIRE. 21 

four years. The qualifications of Representatives in each de- 
gree of government shall he fully and accurately prescribed 
by the law of the government. No person shall be elegible 
unless he is fully qualified to fill the office. 

§ 35. The members of the State Senate shall hold their 
office for two years, those of the National Senate for four 
years, and those of the Imperial Senate for six years. Their 
number, qualifications, and mode of selection shall be deter- 
mined by law. Both houses shall be governed by the usual 
rules of parliamentary proceedings. The legislative body in 
a State shall be known and designated as a " Legislature ;" 
in a nation as a " Congress ;" and in the empire as a " Parlia- 
ment." 

ARTICLE XIV. 
JUDICIARY. 

§ 36. It shall be the business of the judicial branch of the 
government, with or without the aid of a jury, to apply the 
law to every statement of facts duly heard and determined 
before them. The judicial power shall be vested in courts 
duly organized by the law of the government. 

ARTICLE XV. 

EXECUTIVE POWER. 

§ 37. The executive power of a State shall be vested in a 
Governor, who shall hold his office for two years. The execu- 
tive power of the nation shall be vested in a President, who 
shall hold his office for four years. The executive power of 
the empire shall be vested in an Emperor, who shall hold his 
office for six years. It shall be the business of each to see 
that the laws of his government are faithfully executed. The 
Governor, President, and Emperor shall be ineligible for the 
next succeeding term of office after the term for which he 
is selected expires. The salary or compensation of each officer 
of government shall be settled by the law of the government to 
which he belongs. Every act of the legislative branch of the 
government shall be presented to the chief executive officer 
of the government for his signature before it becomes a law. 
If such executive officer approve the same, he shall sign it; if 



22 CONSTITUTION OF THE DEMOCRATIC EMPIRE. 

not, he shall return the same to the branch of the Legislature 
in which it shall have originated, with his objections thereto. 
If the same is reconsidered and passed by two thirds of the 
members of both branches of the Legislature, it shall become 
a law, notwithstanding the objections of the executive. 

ARTICLE XVI. 

DISTRIBUTION OF POWERS AMONG THE THREE DEGREES OF 

GOVERNMENT. 

§ 38. The most natural and the most equitable distribution 
of the powers of government, and that which is most likely to 
secure permanent peace and good order throughout the empire, 
should be adopted. 

ARTICLE XVII. 

TOWERS OF THE STATE GOVERNMENT. 

§ 39. The State government should have the power to make, 
apply, and execute all laws peculiar to the State. 

§ 40. The people of the State, in their right of sovereignty, 
possess the original and ultimate title to all the lands within 
the jurisdiction of the State. The citizen holds his lands sub- 
ject to the superior title of the people of the State. The peo- 
ple of the State may take such lands or other property 
for any public use upon payment of a just compensation 
therefor. On failure of title for defect of heirs, the title 
reverts to the State. Hence the State government should 
have exclusive authority to make all laws regulating the ac- 
quisition, the enjoyment, and the transmission of all the real 
and personal property within the State. 

§ 41. The State regulates the descent of the property of its 
citizens who die intestate — grants to its citizens power to de- 
vise or bequeath their property by last will and testament — 
de lines the right of the widow to dower and the right of the 
husband to curtesy — defines the powers and duties of execu- 
tors and administrators — creates corporations — regulates the 
boundaries of towns, counties, and districts — prescribes the 
mode of selecting its public officers — organizes its militia for 
the defense of the State — regulates the assessment and col- 
lection of taxes — provides for the public instruction of the 



CONSTITUTION OF THE DEMOCRATIC EMPIRE. 23 

children of the State — establishes and regulates highways, 
bridges, and ferries — provides for the support and maintenance 
of the poor — provides employment for beggars and vagrants — 
regulates the navigation of its rivers — prescribes the manner 
of creating and annulling the marriage contract — defines the 
effect of such contract upon the property of the parties to the 
contract — defines the mutual rights and duties of parent and 
child, guardian and ward, master and servant — establishes or 
prohibits slavery within its boundaries, and regulates or abol- 
ishes the same at pleasure. 

§42. The State establishes its courts of justice — provides 
for the protection and enforcement of right, the redress and 
prevention of wrong — defines the various crimes, and affixes 
the grade of punishment. 

§ 43. These rights, powers, and duties belong exclusively to 
each and every sovereign State. No other State, and no citizen 
of another State has a right, under any pretense whatever, to 
interfere with these domestic rights and institutions. 

ARTICLE XVIII. 
POWERS OF THE NATIONAL GOVERNMKNT. 

§ 44. The National Government should have the power to 
make, apply, and execute all laws which are common to all the 
States composing the nation. 

The National Government must regulate the boundaries of 
States ; control and regulate the national Territories, and 
provide for their admission as States ; control the sale of the 
national lands; establish courts having jurisdiction of all cases 
in law and equity, arising under the national Constitution and 
the national laws ; cases which arise between two States of 
the nation ; cases between a State and citizens of another 
State ; cases between citizens of different States. 

§ 45. The right of Eminent Domain should exist in the Na- 
tional Government, and the National Government should have 
the right to take any lands or other property for public use upon 
paying a just compensation therefor, whenever the safety and 
welfare of the nation shall require it. 

The National Government should make all laws in reference 
to internal improvements, and control and regulate the post- 
offices and post-roads within the boundaries of the nation. 



24 CONSTITUTION OF THE DEMOCRATIC EMPIRE. 

ARTICLE XIX. 
TOWERS OF THE IMPERIAL GOVERNMENT. 

§ 46. The government of the Democratic Empire should have 
power to make, apply, and execute all laws which are com- 
mon to all the Republics comprising the Empire. 

Jj 47. Among the powers of the Government of the Empire 
are the following : 

J. To hold and control all forts, magazines, arsenals, and 
navy-yards. 

2. To raise and support a standing army. 

3. To provide and maintain a navy. 

4. To secure domestic tranquillity and provide against for- 
eign invasion. 

5. To declare war and conclude treaties of peace. 

G. To define and punish felonies committed on the high 
seas. 

7. To establish a uniform tariff for the purposes of revenue, 
and to regulate the same. 

8. To coin money, and regulate the value of foreign coin. 

9. To establish a uniform mode of pleading and practice in 
all courts — State, National, and Imperial. 

10. To grant copyrights to authors, and patent-rights to in- 
ventors. 

11. To establish uniform rules of naturalization. 

12. To take such lands or other property as may be neces- 
sary for public purposes, upon payment of a just compensation 
therefor, when the safety and welfare of the nation shall re- 
quire it. 

13. To make all laws necessary for carrying into execution 
these powers. 

14. To establish courts having jurisdiction of all cases in 
law and equity arising under the Constitution and the Laws of 
the Empire. 

§ 48. When men enter into a state of society they surrender 
some of their natural rights to that society, in order to insure 
the protection of others ; and whenever that protection ceases, 
these natural rights at once revert, and the surrender becomes 
v.»id. There is no allegiance to a government when the gov- 
ernment fails or ceases to protect. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE DEMOCRATIC EMPIRE. 25 

ARTICLE XX. 
POWER OF THE CITIZEN. 

§ 49. When governed by natural law alone, every man has the 
inherent authority to defend the most insignificant right. In 
civil society this authority is suspended, because other reme- 
dies are provided, and in general he can not take the law into 
his own hands. But there are natural rights which the indivi- 
dual never surrenders to society. In a state of nature, when 
an attempt is made to murder a person, or to murder his oi- 
lier husband or wife, parent or child, master, mistress, or ser- 
vant, or there is reasonable grounds to apprehend a design to 
commit a felony upon or to do some great bodily injury to 
either, and there is eminent danger of its being accomplished, 
and it becomes necessary to kill the assailant to preserve one's 
own life, or the life of the family, or to prevent some great 
bodily injury to either, such killing is justifiable. The case is 
not altered when he enters into civil society, because the law 
of society can not interpose to protect him. In all other cases 
each individual has surrendered the right of self-defense to the 
society of which he is a member. 

§ 50. If a State stands by itself, unconnected with other States, 
and there is no legal remedy for the protection of rights and 
the redress of wrongs except by an appeal to arms, that right 
of self-protection exists in the State. But when that State 
enters into the society of States it surrenders all the rights of 
war to the society of States, except in cases of sudden insur- 
rection or invasion, in which the law of the society of States 
can not immediately interpose to protect, the State. 

§ 51. So if several Republics enter into a society of Repub- 
lics, whether called the " Democratic Empire," or distinguished 
by any other name, it surrenders all the rights of protection by 
offensive or defensive war to the government of the empire, 
except in cases of insurrection or invasion, when imminent 
danger exists, and the power of the Empire can not be immed- 
iately interposed. 

§ 52. There is in the state of nature a remedy or a penalty for 
every wrong. He who violates the laws of nature which God 
has prescribed for the common safety, becomes the enemy of 
all mankind. The right of government to redress injuries 



26 CONSTITUTION OF THE DEMOCRATIC EMPIRE. 

and punish crimes is only the right which every individual 
originally possessed to execute the laws of nature, and to take 
care of his own safety. 

§ 53. The authority to defend the society of Republics by the 
power of an army and navy should be exclusively confided to 
the Imperial Government. War, by this means, will cease 
forever between State and State, or Republic and Republic, 
within the Empire. By confining each grade of government 
to the rights and duties peculiar to that grade, all conflict of 
jurisdiction will be avoided, and the foundation laid for a 
government which may become universal. 

§ 54. Concessions and compromises on the part of all must be 
the foundation of this compact. The regulation of the domestic 
institutions of every State must be left to the State, without ex- 
ternal interference or reproof or advice. PERFECT protection 
of PERSON and PROPERTY and CHARACTER must he 
guaranteed to all. Slanderous words, coming from whatever 
source they may come, must be suppressed and punished. All 
unkind language, by which, the feelings of a fellow-citizen may 
be injured, should be carefully avoided. Discussions in our legis- 
lative halls should be conducted in a spirit of fraternal candor. 
Each citizen should treat the other with due delicacy and re- 
spect. The two belligerent parties should no longer treat each 
other as enemies. Forgetting the past, harmony and peace 
should at once be restored. This will be another proof that 
the manifest destiny of humanity is towards the union of all 
men in one indissoluble bond of fraternity. The sword will 
then be changed for the plowshare, and the spear for the prun- 
ing-hook, and the nations learn war no more. 

.ARTICLE XXI. 
ADMISSION OF OTHER REPUBLICS TO .THE DEMOCRATIC EMPIRE. 

§ 55. If at any time hereafter, by the consent of Great Britain, 
the British Provinces in North-America shall be formed into 
States, and the States united into the Republic of Canada, and 
such Republic shall, by her constituted authorities, express a 
wish to become a part of this Democratic Empire, she shall be 
admitted into the Empire, and be entitled to all the rights and 
privileges of other Nations of the Empire. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE DEMOCRATIC EMPIRE. 27 

§ 56. If at any time hereafter the Republic of Mexico shall be 
reorganized by the formation of States, and the union of 
States into a Republic, after the model of the other States and 
Republics, and shall, by her constituted authorities, express a 
wish to become a part of this Democratic Empire, she shall 
be admitted into the Empire, and be entitled to all the rights 
and privileges of the other Nations of the Empire. 

§ 57. If at any time hereafter the States of Central America 
and the West-India Islands shall be formed into States, and the 
States into a Republic, such Republic may be admitted into 
the Empire, and entitled to all the rights and privileges of the 
other Nations of the Empire. 

§ 58. If South-America shall be organized into States, and the 
States uuited into a Republic, such Republic may also be ad- 
mitted. 

By this means the Monroe Doctrine, that the Continent of 
America should be exclusively under the control of Americans, 
will be triumphantly vindicated. 

ARTICLE XXII. 

PUBLIC PROPERTY AND REVENUE. 

§ 59. The navies, arsenals, fortifications, navy-yards, custom- 
houses, mints, ordnance, and all other public property used for 
the public defense, or for the purposes of collecting the revenue 
or coining money, shall be under the care and control of the 
Imperial Government. 

§ 60. The Imperial Government shall assume all the national 
debts of the several Republics when they enter into the Demo- 
cratic Empire. The Imperial Government shall have the 
care and control of all the revenue arising from duties levied 
upon commerce with foreign nations. The revenue thus col- 
lected shall be applied, under the direction of the Imperial 
Government, first, to the expenses of supporting the Imperial 
Government, with the army and navy, and the balance shall 
be applied to the extinguishment of the Imperial debt. When 
such debt shall have been liquidated, the surplus revenue shall 
be annually distributed to the National Governments in pro- 
portion to the amount of taxable property in each Nation. 
Such surplus shall first be applied to the payment of the ex- 



28 CONSTITUTION OF THE DEMOCRATIC EMPIRE. 

penses of such Rational Government, and the surplus divided 
among the several States of the Republic in proportion to the 
taxable property in each State, to be used for purposes of edu- 
cation or liquidating other expenses of the State. 

§ 61. The State Government shall be supported by direct 
taxation and the internal revenue of the State. The National 
Government shall be supported by the surplus of the Imperial 
revenue and the internal revenue of the Nation, arising from 
the sale of its public lands and other sources, and by direct 
taxation if other sources shall be insufficient. 

§ 62. There shall be free trade throughout the Empire 
between State and State and between Nation and Nation com- 
prising the Empire. 

§ 63. The Emperor shall be Commander-in-chief of the army 
and navy of the Empire, and of the militia when called into the 
service of the Empire ; but he shall have no power to command 
in person. 

§ 61. The Parliament House and Imperial Palace shall be 
located on Washington Heights, in the City of New- York. 

Done at the City of New- York, in Convention of 
the American States, by their delegates duly 
appointed, on Friday, the first day of February, 
1861. In witness whereof, we have hereunto 
subscribed our names. 

A B 

President and Delegate from 

This Constitution, with such alterations and amendments as 
may be suggested by the accumulated wisdom of the nation 
in convention assembled, would again place this nation in the 
sure path of peace, industry, morality, piety, wealth, happi- 
ness, glory, dominion, and power. 



CONCLUDING REMARKS. 29 

In conclusion, I would ask if we can not find something in 
history or prophecy to admonish us in this dark hour, as a bea- 
con to warn, or as a star to guide. Read the first eight verses 
of the sixth chapter of the Revelations. 

" And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I 
heard as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts, 
say, ' Come and see.' And I saw, and behold a white horse : and 
he that sat on him had a bow ; and a crown was given nnto 
him : and he went forth conquering and to conquer. 

" And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the 
second beast say, ' Come and see.' And there went out another 
horse that ivas red: and power was given to him that sat 
thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should 
kill one another And there was given unto him a great 
sword. 

" And when he had opened the third seal, 1 heard the third 
beast say, ' Come and see.' And I beheld, and lo a black 
horse ; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his 
hand. And I heard a voice from the midst of the four beasts 
say, ' A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of 
barley for a penny ; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.' 

" And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice 
of the fourth beast say, ' Come and see.' And I looked, and 
behold, a pale horse : and his name that sat on him was Death, 
and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them 
over the fourth part of the earth to kill with sword, and with 
hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth." 

It is believed that this prophecy had its first fulfillment in 
the rise, progress, decay, and destruction of the Roman Re- 
public. The horse was the national emblem of Rome. The 
colors of the horses indicate the successive stages of conquest, 
prosperity, adversity, and destruction. The riders represent 
the agents employed to bring about these conditions of the 
Republic. 

The color of the first horse, which was white, indicates the 
state of prosperity, victory, and expansion of power, which 
Rome enjoyed for eighty-three years. White was the symbol 
of prosperity, and in triumphal processions the horse was cov- 
ered with white. During this period Rome was governed by 



30 CONCLUDING REMARKS. 

wisdom and virtue, unstained by civil blood, undisturbed by 
revolution. Our own history finds an exact parallel, and to 
the same period of time. We have enjoyed our eighty-three 
years of unequalled prosperity. 

The second horse was red, the general and almost universal 
symbol of blood. "Killing one another" is the language of 
civil war. The peace they formerly enjoyed was taken from 
the earth. The pretorian guard, under their chief, during the 
period of sixty years, assassinated nine Koman emperors in 
succession. Peace had fled, and a reign of terror foreshadow- 
ed the decline and final destruction of Rome. 

The third horse was black. Black is the universal symbol 
of mourning and distress. There followed a condition of ex- 
treme poverty and oppression. The black mantle of night 
hung over the nation. The nation went down rapidly, and 
soon that stage represented by the Pale Horse. 

Death sat upon the horse, and hell followed with him, and 
power was given to them to kill with the sword, and with 
hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth. As 
Home approached her final dissolution, the sword, pestilence, 
famine, and even destruction by the beasts of the earth were 
the dregs of the cup of wrath she was compelled to drink. 

"We have followed Rome for eighty-five years. Universal 
prosperity and happiness has been ours. We have abandoned 
the white horse upon which we went forth from conquering to 
conquer. We are now on the red horse of civil war, and the 
temple of liberty is being pulled down over our own heads. 
How long shall we follow in the footsteps of the once glorious ' 
sell destroyed Roman Republic? 

Statesmen and Citizens! The contrast suggests an import- 
ant lesson. 



This pamphlet will be published on fine paper, in lithographed and 
colored cover, showing the proposed Imperial Flag. It will be sold or 
mailed, postage pre paid, to any part of the country, at twenty-five cents 
per copy. It will be Bent to clubs, where twenty-five or more copies are 
ordered to one address, at twenty cents per copy. Sold at all bookstores 
and periodica] depots. 



Nov.1fi.lS 61 .] 



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